thought proper to allow the Servants to be landed, and the Vessel to take in Water and Provisions for the passage home; but the Captain by being too long in availing himself of that Indulgence was in some Danger of the Conflagration that M: Gildarts Ship (of Liverpoole) met with, for the particulars of which I must beg Leave in this place to refer your Lordship to the enclosed papers, No 1, from me to the Officers of the Customs here, & N° 2, their Answer.

I am next, My Lord, to mention the late proceedings of the Provincial Convention, held in this City, and for your Lordships fuller Information, enclose the whole printed Account thereoff, No 3, by which you may observe that the Council of Safety, as they term themselves, are invested with an Authority, which, supposing their grand Favorite Montesquieu, with Locke & Blackstone to be right, has most certainly constituted a real & oppressive Tyranny in the very Heart of the province, in Opposition to what they call such, at 3000 Miles Distance; For I presume they must allow that where the legislative, judicial, and executive Authorities and Powers are all lodged in the same persons, a Tyranny is erected. These Proceedings, I must remark, are dated from the day they met, but were not published till the 17th Inst. which shows their Lawyers to have the Conduct of the whole and on the 19th, I had a Meeting of the Council, to take Advice how I ought to conduct myself, and what Steps I should take, in Opposition to an Association directed to be carried about, and to be subscribed by all persons excepting my Household, without Regard to His Majestys Officers of the Customs, the Councillors, & other Magistrates, their Oaths of Allegiance &c. The weakness of the Civil Government has so manifested itself in most of the Colonies since these Commotions began, that your Lordship will not be surprized at the timid declining to express their Sentiments and the cautious or Cunning refusing to do itor not choosing it. The Council being thin, I adjourned 'till Monday last, when eight Members exclusive of myself, being present, I again applied for their Advice; and, to be short, My Lord, after some Time, I proposed publishing the enclosed Address, No 4, hoping some good might ensue from it. There was an even

Division of the Council on it, and at their general request, I declined giving my Vote hoping the four Absent CouncillTM would attend next Meeting, which the Wind and Weather had prevented their doing at this Time. That Evening and next Morning I found that a general Timidity had taken place, even among those also who were for my measure, And the Council adjourned till to morrow. I hope the Address I had proposed will meet with the Approbation of His Majesty, and his Ministers. The Necessity of the lenient Terms it was couched in, must be obvious on a Consideration of the violent Consequences that had immediately followed, in the other Colonies, the adopting of such Expressions, and Mode of Address, as my Loyalty to my Sovereign, and Attachment to my Country, and the Constitution, would have dictated, had I implicitly followed the Dictates of my Heart. It has ever, My Lord, been my Endeavour, by the most soothing Measures I could safely use, and yeilding to the Storm when I could not resist it, to preserve some hold of the Helm of Government, that I might steer, as long as should be possible, clear of those Shoals, which all here must sooner or later, I fear get shipwreck'd upon: I have found great Advantage in this as yet; but when the Council of Safety, as they are called, meet, amongst whom, in the Convention proceedings your Lordship, I am sorry to say it, must see the Names of two of the Council of this Province; viz. Bordly & Jenifer; (but the former has declined acting; the other is to act; and has already subscribed the Association paper, and gives his Opinion that things are gone so far, people ought to risque everything; and that he has accepted this Office only for the sake of being instrumental in preventing Disorder, & Violence. This I suppose is to justify him to M: Harford's Guardians, from whom he has his Commission as Agent, & Receiver General, but will, I doubt not, be taken Notice of;) When, I said, My Lord, the Council of Safety meet, I am under the Apprehensions that the Authority I have hitherto supported, will cease to be of any great Avail. I have, however, great Satisfaction in hoping for His Majestys Approbation of my having done my Duty with Integrity to the best of my Abilities, in doing which I have more than once suppressed some daring Attempt at imminent Hazard of my Life.

An Assembly of rash people soon becomes a lawless and ungovernable Mob; which, grown desperate from Necessity, arising from a total Neglect of their peaceable Trades & Occupations, and kept constantly heated by the incendiary Harangues of their Demagogues, are a formidable Enemy to encounter with words only, founded on Reason & Arguments of Moderation: We have neither Troops nor Ships of War to support those who would (and I can assure your Lordship there are many such) if they had such support to fly to, have long ago asserted the Rights of Great Britain, and their own Liberties and are still ready, many of them, waiting only for such an Opportunity. Several of these have been compelled to muster, and sign Associations &c. to preserve their Lives and property, without any further View, except perhaps learning the use of Arms so as to be on a Level with those they are, at present, by Force connected with and ready to desert from. As my Life, and that of many of His Majesty's Subjects here, who are known to be attached to Government and ready to Support it, would immediately be sacrificed on the publication of this Letter, I have no occasion to add what your Lordships prudence woud Naturally sugest, that I hope, this may be considered as a private Letter. Those men among the Leaders of the Rebellion here whose sole Consequence depends on a general Convulsion, spare no pains or Expense to obtain Copies of all the Letters sent home that can add to the Flame here and undoubtedly have their Agents in most of the Offices at home for that infernal purpose. And they intercept all Letters they can here from England which makes Caution as necessary in answering these Letters, as in writing them. I have entrusted this to the Care of M: Lloyd Dulany, who is leaving a considerable Estate here to escape with his Life from the persecution he has long been under, for having withstood every insidious and violent Attempt to draw him into Connections with men whose Measures he abhors and has resolutely opposed from the very first. He is Brother to Dan. Dulany of Our Council, who was Author of the Considerations &c. after the Stamp Act, and was then a popular Man, but now persecuted also for being a friend to Governm His Son, on the same Account went home in the last pacquet, and probably has been introduced to Your Lordship by

my Brother. Many other Gentlemen of Property, Character & Family are leaving America, and I should be unjust to a particular Friend of mine, were I to omit mentioning, and recommending to your Lordship the Rev M Boucher, who is driven from his parish and possessions here, and goes home in the Choptank Frigate from Patowmack, in about ten days, he has ever been a firm Supporter of the Church as well as of Government, and being particularly connected with me, can communicate to your Lordship the Principal Occurrences in this province for some time past; and knows very well every thing relative to all the great Men in Virginia. He is a very sensible and intelligent Man, meriting the Patronage of Government to which he is steadily attached, and your Lordship will find his Abilities very usefull. I have wrote

in his Favour to my Brother in Law the B of Bangor, and shall when he goes make him Bearer of nearly a duplicate of this, with what Occurrences I may have to add; and he will have the Honour of waiting on your Lordship therewith.

M: Lloyd Dulany, the Bearer of this is a Man of Understanding, and having resided almost constantly in this City for some years, is able to give Your Lordship a fuller Account of all Affairs here than the Limits of a Letter already too long will allow. I have the Honour to Subscribe myself,

Your Lordships

Obedient and obliged humble Serv!

Rob Eden.

[This letter incloses :

1. Robert Eden to B. Calvert and others 12 Augt 1775.

2. B. Calvert and others Answer to Robt Eden 18 Augt 1775.

3. Printed paper of Meeting of Delegates appointed by several counties of the province of Maryland at Annapolis, 26 July 1775.

Printed in Force's American Archives 4th series III. 99

4. Gov. Eden's proposed Address to the People of Maryland, fo. 443 (same as that contained in Maryland Minutes of Council, 29 Aug. 1775, folio 477)]

INTRODUCTION OF THE BLACK BASS INTO THE OHIO AND THE POTOMAC.

PHILIP T. TYSON.

In the summer of 1860 I was informed that the black bass had been introduced into the Potomac river from the Ohio some years previously by Wm. M. Shriver, Esq., of Wheeling, and that they had multiplied so as to be taken in large numbers in the vicinity of Cumberland.

Feeling much interest in the subject, I addressed a letter dated September 4th, 1860, to Mr. Shriver asking further information. His reply was dated September 7th, 1860, in which my queries were answered, and much valuable information given me on this interesting subject.

It seems that this disciple of Isaac Walton had long before desired to introduce some varieties of the "finest game fish" of the Ohio into the Upper Potomac, but there were no satisfactory means for doing so, until after the completion of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad to Cumberland in 1853.

Mr. Shriver placed the fish in a perforated tin bucket made to pass through the openings, or man-holes, of the water tanks which were constantly supplied with fresh water. Fish of small size, but fresh and active, were placed in the bucket, and accompanying his precious charges on each of several trips, Mr. Shriver placed them in fine order in the canal basin at Cumberland, from whence they could pass up or down the river. This privilege, it will appear, the fish of at least one species availed themselves of extensively.

Mr. Shriver with commendable perseverance transferred five kinds of fine game fish (about twelve of each kind) into the Potomac during the autumn of 1854, making six trips on the railroad.

He sent me the following list of them: